A basic question which occurred to me in the wake of Dembki's 'Herman Munster' post:

Has Dembski ever made an attempt at humor that was actually funny?

I mean, looking back over the last year or two, what comes to mind is stuff like the Herman Munster 'joke' (which reminds me uncomfortably of stuff the wingnuts said about Kerry 3 years ago), his fart video, that stoopid 'brights' parody... Either guffawing at people's appearance, potty humor, stuff you'd expect of a ten-year-old boy with a very mediocre intellect. Maybe there are attempts at humor he's made that *were* funny, but I've just forgotten them. Anyone remember them?

I hesitate to say that Dembski is 'humorless' per se, since he clearly tries to make jokes, but his sense of humor seems rather stunted. Denyse O'Leary strikes me as a much more severe example of the same syndrome, who may actually qualify as completely humorless.

Now, the larger question: is this a syndrome? Is this inevitable? Is there something about the religious dogmatism and extremely narrow thinking necessary to being a Creationist that destroys one's ability to actually be deliberately funny and witty to anyone without an identical set of ideas? Maybe so. Try and imagine Pat Robertson or some Iranian mullah actually making a witty remark. Hard to see, no?

It's certainly not the case that religious people can't be funny: Jews practically invented modern American humor, and I've met Buddhist monks who had extremely robust senses of humor, and who told hilarious stories. But there seems to be something about fundamentalist Christianity and Islam that totally kills any trace of laugh-laugh, even if the person wants to be funny.

Observations?

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

Now, the larger question: is this a syndrome? Is this inevitable? Is there something about the religious dogmatism and extremely narrow thinking necessary to being a Creationist that destroys one's ability to actually be deliberately funny and witty to anyone without an identical set of ideas? Maybe so. Try and imagine Pat Robertson or some Iranian mullah actually making a witty remark. Hard to see, no?

It's certainly not the case that religious people can't be funny: Jews practically invented modern American humor, and I've met Buddhist monks who had extremely robust senses of humor, and who told hilarious stories. But there seems to be something about fundamentalist Christianity and Islam that totally kills any trace of laugh-laugh, even if the person wants to be funny.

--------------It's natural to be curious about our world, but the scientific method is just one theory about how to best understand it. We live in a democracy, which means we should treat every theory equally. - Steven Colbert, I Am America (and So Can You!)

To Mr. Anonymous: I'm not psychic, so if you won't tell me who you are, I can't guess and don't care. To Mr. Nude World (URL): If you can't be bothered telling site visitors why they should go on to your fave site next, why should I post your comment? They're all busy people, like you. To Mr. Rudesby International and Mr. Pottymouth: I also have a tendency to delete comments that are merely offensive. Go be offensive to someone who can smack you a good one upside the head. That may provide you with a needed incentive to stop and think about what you are trying to accomplish. To Mr. Righteous but Wrong: I don't publish comments that contain known or probable factual errors. There's already enough widely repeated misinformation out there, and if you don't have the time to do your homework, I don't either. To those who write to announce that at death I will either 1) disintegrate into nothingness or 2) go to Hell by a fast post, please pester someone else. I am a Catholic in communion with the Church and haven't the time for either village atheism or aimless Jesus-hollering

My sides are just splitting.

Yeah. I can see her headlining at The Comedy Club now.

She's about as funny as the Spanish Inquisition.

--------------Come on Tough Guy, do the little dance of ID impotence you do so well. - Louis to Joe G 2/10

Gullibility is not a virtue - Quidam on Dembski's belief in the Bible Code Faith Healers & ID 7/08

Now, the larger question: is this a syndrome? Is this inevitable? Is there something about the religious dogmatism and extremely narrow thinking necessary to being a Creationist that destroys one's ability to actually be deliberately funny and witty to anyone without an identical set of ideas? Maybe so. Try and imagine Pat Robertson or some Iranian mullah actually making a witty remark. Hard to see, no?

It's certainly not the case that religious people can't be funny: Jews practically invented modern American humor, and I've met Buddhist monks who had extremely robust senses of humor, and who told hilarious stories. But there seems to be something about fundamentalist Christianity and Islam that totally kills any trace of laugh-laugh, even if the person wants to be funny.

Ah, but remember, I clearly specified: deliberately funny. Can a creationist actually have an effective sense of humor?

(We all know they can be regular laff riots when they're trying to act all grown-up like.)

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

Ah yes, thanks for the reminder. Same trend: jokes you'd expect from a 10-YO boy.

I think I'm seeing a pattern here.

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

Ah, but remember, I clearly specified: deliberately funny. Can a creationist actually have an effective sense of humor?

(We all know they can be regular laff riots when they're trying to act all grown-up like.)

I thought I just made my case on that point.

no, they no longer, if they ever did, have the ability to be deliberately amusing in the sense that the vast majority of intelligent people would think such.

I'm serious; there is simply a different psychology there that seems to prohibit them from getting why Monty Python is funny when doing satire, and most certainly being able to use satire themselves in a humorous fashion.

I do even recall reading a study on this in my beginning psych course over 20 years ago.

you might try googling up something like "the psychology of humor" and see. I'll bet you'll run into something along the lines of what I am saying here.

Ah, but remember, I clearly specified: deliberately funny. Can a creationist actually have an effective sense of humor?

(We all know they can be regular laff riots when they're trying to act all grown-up like.)

Simple answer? NO

Longer answer... this subject / discussion, might be worth a PhD to some enterprising young psychologist, because I do not recall now, or at any time in the past ever hearing / seeing an actual "funny" creao / IDist. It's just not in them.

Yes, I think you are on to something! Maybe onsomething too, but that I guess is another story.

Damn! Very interesting! Evo's / Scientist = funny. IDers/Creos = NOT Funny. But the fun starts in fitting in all those stodgy, unfunny professors I have known. I know they weren't IDers or Creos, but they still weren't funny. Not as un-funny as a Dembski, or a DaveScot, but still, not funny, and not someone to have a drink with.

The Grant Request for this study might even merit it's own show on Comedy Central.

Hmmm.

--------------Come on Tough Guy, do the little dance of ID impotence you do so well. - Louis to Joe G 2/10

Gullibility is not a virtue - Quidam on Dembski's belief in the Bible Code Faith Healers & ID 7/08

I'm 99% sure this has already been done, and by different people looking at different angles of it. I do recall reading snippets of this back in basic pych, so the studies on this must have been done quite a while back (probably 30 years or more)

I'm 99% sure this has already been done, and by different people looking at different angles of it. I do recall reading snippets of this back in basic pych, so the studies on this must have been done quite a while back (probably 30 years or more)

again, check the psych lit.

Ichthyic - Yeah. I'm turning up lots of papers:

1. Holy Shit - These People are Effing Dumb - University of Michigan Press.

2. No Humor - No brains - Dr. Michael Egnor

3. Jesus Christ - give it a rest already - The Wit and Wisdom of Kent Hovind - Anthology collected by his cellmates.

4. Hey Peter - I can see your house from up here!Christ On A Cross Collection - Vatican Library

I maintain that his belief that 'God diddit, then died' puts him in a category all his own.

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

I can just see Dembski getting all steamed up over the likes of Coyne, Judge Jones, all those Behe haters, and . . . well . . . just about anyone who doesn't bow to his Isaac Newton-like DR. DR. status. Hello!?! This guy just screams out "Napoleonic complex". Dembski thinks to himself:

Unlike Dembski, I use reliable sources to back up my points. According to Conservapedia, a napoleonic complex leads to "overly aggressive tendencies by some to compensate for being short or small. It is not endemic of all short people, and is only relevent for a small number for whom lack of physical stature may lead to difficulties in accepting themselves." Clearly conservapedia is describing Dembski. Here the only difference is that rather than lacking in height, Dembski lacks intellect. Otherwise the resemblance is obvious . . . his overt aggressiveness, when in the safety of his heavily moderated blog(not in public forums like court though) is clearly a sign of one who fels a need to compensate for a small something (intellect in this case). Furthermore, he clearly has difficulty accepting himself. Thus the need to be the Isaac Newton of Information Theory, and get so puffed up about his staus as DR. DR.

So while Coyne might be likened to Frankenstein, I think an appropriate image for Dembski would be either the Elmer Fudd imaged above, or the Napoleon Dynamite image here

Maybe humor uses some of the same brain circuitry that objective thinking uses, so when one suppresses that circuitry in order to prevent objective thinking, as a side effect it also suppresses the humor function as well?

IMHO good humor, particularly good satire, packs measures of both pleasure and aggression - about which these folks are notably conflicted. As does eroticism, in perhaps different measures. How erotic are these people?

Case closed.

--------------Myth: Something that never was true, and always will be.

"The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you."- David Foster Wallace

"Hereâ€™s a clue. Snarky banalities are not a substitute for saying something intelligent. Write that down."- Barry Arrington

I'm still trying to find one shred of humor in that "Brites" site that Dembski set up. The articles are supposed to be Onion-like but they are dense and humorless. I can't find evidence of satire, just lame attempts at mocking. The Onion makes me chuckle (i've got a subscription). The Brites site actually makes me gag a little bit supratentorially. I actually feel a little uncomfortable reading it because the person writing the articles hasn't a grasp on what comedy is, yet I think he/she feels they are writing the funniest thing in the world. Blech. Comedy is a talent. Thinking you have that talent when you don't is pathetic and annoying.

Hey, you could write a thesis on this and maybe be a Dr. Dr. yourself.

having gone through the process before, it gives one a sense for what has likely been done before, and while not impossible (see the kin selection in plants thread!), it seems highly improbable to me that someone wouldn't have done this before.

This tread puts me in mind of Lt. Hauk in Good Morning Vietnam: "Sir, in my heart, I know I'm funny."

It does appear to be true that a certain mindset, particularly the Right Wing Authoritarian one, is incapable of very advanced or clever humour. I think in identifying the basis a good place to look is in the mind's capacity for abstraction. All good humour works because it relates to something familiar, and a good joke is a bizarre abstraction of a potentially real scenario.

There's no question that the mental gymnastics and games played with logic and rationality take their toll on capacity for abstract thinking. That this would thus affect one's sense of humour is probably a given.

IMHO good humor, particularly good satire, packs measures of both pleasure and aggression - about which these folks are notably conflicted. As does eroticism, in perhaps different measures. How erotic are these people?

Homo.

--------------"Following what I just wrote about fitness, you’re taking refuge in what we see in the world." PaV

What I notice about the humour of these people that remains so childish, which is of course to be expected since they clearly possess undeveloped cognitive skills.

A good joke takes reality and bends it, that's what makes it funny: it's almost familiar. The alternative reality of the creos leads only to insular humour - they're only funny if you subscribe to the worldview.

A pun is usually useful, but better puns require a better grasp of word definitions, something which Creo-bots have a hard time with.

Cognition and abstraction go hand in hand, when these are limited then good humour is impossible. The only fun derived is of the "poking" (at the evilutionist atheist conspirator) variety. That's an in joke to the in group, a bonding joke.

The preponderance of fart humour belies not only poor humour, but poor wit. Wit speaks to a clear point, an observation or assertion of an evident truism, laced with humour. The wit must first have an answer from which to draw a witty response. Thus, either the purveyor of the fart joke lacks wit, or else he has no answer.

The little flash animation I saw post Dover, with heads yakking (not sure where I watched it but if anyone knows the one please linky) was pretty sad, and the absence of anything actually witty was telling.

It's hard to be funny when the law just told you "you suck".

CheersSpags

PS.. this may, or may not, be funny:

How many AFDave's does it take to change a lightbulb?

LIGHTBULBS CHANGED IN ONE MINUTE:SCIENCE AGAIN CHAMPIONS THE ANTHROPOCENTRIC FAITH!i have shown how lightbulb changing was a tenet of the Queen of Sciences (theology) before Darwin, who claimed that lightbulbs changed gradually over millions of years. But when I googled "lightbulb changing" I found countless papers showing that lightbulbs were DESIGNED to be changed safely and RAPIDLY, allowing plenty of time for lightbulbs to have developed into millions of different varieties in the 4700 years since the flood!

As OA, Faid and others have rightly pointed out, someone here is making fallacies of definition and argumentum ad googlum, and that person is Eric. Sorry Eric you need to get on topic, we're not addressing lightbulb factories at this time as I already covered that in my Alberts quotation, which you have not addressed. If you can get on topic I may consider reading your posts again.

Todays topic...LONGLIFE LIGHTBULBS DEMONSTRATES VALIDITY OF LONGLIFE PATRIARCHSNow someone, I think it was VoxRat but I don't read his posts either, was asking...[ad-infinitum, ad nauseum..]

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

Just one, but the bulb will never want to be changed again since no one can screw one in like Davescot. In fact, lamps are just begging him to change their bulbs.

--------------It's natural to be curious about our world, but the scientific method is just one theory about how to best understand it. We live in a democracy, which means we should treat every theory equally. - Steven Colbert, I Am America (and So Can You!)

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

IMHO good humor, particularly good satire, packs measures of both pleasure and aggression - about which these folks are notably conflicted. As does eroticism, in perhaps different measures. How erotic are these people?

Homo.

I know you didn't mean that. At AtBC we say,

"Homo, IMHO."

--------------Myth: Something that never was true, and always will be.

"The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you."- David Foster Wallace

"Hereâ€™s a clue. Snarky banalities are not a substitute for saying something intelligent. Write that down."- Barry Arrington

OK, Dembski and a monkey walk into a bar and the bartender says to the monkey, "Is he with you?" and the monkey replies, "No relation."

(Now that's funny on many levels. It's got a talking monkey and a twist on teh creationist.)

Then the bartender says, "He looks hot! Is he erotic?" and the monkey replies, "Homo."

(That is a scream on several levels. First, the talking monkey. Always a winner. Then the play on the creationist fear of homosexuals. But the monkey's simple reply of "homo" could be taken several ways: self, homosexual or homoerotic) Drinks all around for the monkey.

As for how many AFDaves it takes to change a lightbulb the answer is zero because the light never came on. Therefore, they don't know it's burned out!

OK, here's my final attempt for the night:

Paul Nelson, Dembski and Behe go into a bar.Behe orders a duck on the rocks.Dembski orders a Waterloo.Nelson says he'll have what the other two guys are having.The bartender says, "But what they ordered is nonsense."And Nelson replies, "Well, make mine a double!"

OK, Dembski and a monkey walk into a bar and the bartender says to the monkey, "Is he with you?" and the monkey replies, "No relation."

(Now that's funny on many levels. It's got a talking monkey and a twist on teh creationist.)

Then the bartender says, "He looks hot! Is he erotic?" and the monkey replies, "Homo."

(That is a scream on several levels. First, the talking monkey. Always a winner. Then the play on the creationist fear of homosexuals. But the monkey's simple reply of "homo" could be taken several ways: self, homosexual or homoerotic) Drinks all around for the monkey.

As for how many AFDaves it takes to change a lightbulb the answer is zero because the light never came on. Therefore, they don't know it's burned out!

OK, here's my final attempt for the night:

Paul Nelson, Dembski and Behe go into a bar.Behe orders a duck on the rocks.Dembski orders a Waterloo.Nelson says he'll have what the other two guys are having.The bartender says, "But what they ordered is nonsense."And Nelson replies, "Well, make mine a double!"

I think I'm ready to quit my day job!

Are you here all week?

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

As others have said, the problem is that creationists like to take things literally, which is very child-like.

For example, a creationist walks into a bar with a pig under his arm and the barman asks"where did you get that?""I won him in a raffle"said the pig.

OK, very old and not very funny but I suspect the common or garden YEC might just say that it's a silly joke because pigs can't talk. And this from people who have no problems with talking snakes or even talking burning bushes! My apologies for any Irony Meters which have just given warning buzzes.

Of course, ID people like to think they're more sophisticated but their "humour" rather gives the game away. Silly pictures with Darwin dolls with heads in vices (UK spelling) or even puerile animations with fart noises are exactly the sort of thing which might appeal to an 8 year old.

Just the age when you almost stop believing in Father Christmas but can't quite manage to do so, just in case.

There is something both child-like and childish about the YEC and ID crowds. Perhaps the most telling sign of this is that would have us believe what they say is true because they say so

This post is the one thing I've seen at UD that actually was sort of funny, in a preachy way. Dembski didn't come up with it, of course, but at least he did recognize that it was funny...

I suspect that the way I find that funny is somewhat different to Dumbski.

"He's still funny, but not ha-ha funny."

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

Where do you get your time-warps from?[/quote]I did too much LDS in the 60's . . . since I live basically down the street from the Sands I should have really remembered it couldn't have been last year, but I still live in the 90's anyway.

Wow, far out man! You did LDS while me and my group was doing LSD!

Dude! I just couldn't get off on those Mormons (Latter Day Saints). They kept getting stuck up my nose.

--------------Come on Tough Guy, do the little dance of ID impotence you do so well. - Louis to Joe G 2/10

Gullibility is not a virtue - Quidam on Dembski's belief in the Bible Code Faith Healers & ID 7/08

I did too much LDS in the 60's . . . since I live basically down the street from the Sands I should have really remembered it couldn't have been last year, but I still live in the 90's anyway.[/quote]Wow, far out man! You did LDS while me and my group was doing LSD!

Dude! I just couldn't get off on those Mormons (Latter Day Saints). They kept getting stuck up my nose.

LDS / LSD

Coincidence? I think not.

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

I did too much LDS in the 60's . . . since I live basically down the street from the Sands I should have really remembered it couldn't have been last year, but I still live in the 90's anyway.[/quote]Wow, far out man! You did LDS while me and my group was doing LSD!

Dude! I just couldn't get off on those Mormons (Latter Day Saints). They kept getting stuck up my nose.

I think it is a reference to Star Trek: The Journey Home. Trying to explain Spock's odd behavior, Kirk says "Oh, him? He's harmless. Part of the free speech movement at Berkeley in the sixties. I think he did a little too much LDS."

--------------It's natural to be curious about our world, but the scientific method is just one theory about how to best understand it. We live in a democracy, which means we should treat every theory equally. - Steven Colbert, I Am America (and So Can You!)

I did too much LDS in the 60's . . . since I live basically down the street from the Sands I should have really remembered it couldn't have been last year, but I still live in the 90's anyway.

Wow, far out man! You did LDS while me and my group was doing LSD!

Dude! I just couldn't get off on those Mormons (Latter Day Saints). They kept getting stuck up my nose.[/quote]I think it is a reference to Star Trek: The Journey Home. Trying to explain Spock's odd behavior, Kirk says "Oh, him? He's harmless. Part of the free speech movement at Berkeley in the sixties. I think he did a little too much LDS."

Ha! I knew that all the time! It was just Street Theater!

--------------Come on Tough Guy, do the little dance of ID impotence you do so well. - Louis to Joe G 2/10

Gullibility is not a virtue - Quidam on Dembski's belief in the Bible Code Faith Healers & ID 7/08

I did too much LDS in the 60's . . . since I live basically down the street from the Sands I should have really remembered it couldn't have been last year, but I still live in the 90's anyway.

Ra-Úl

You live in Vegas?

I hope you aren't drinking the tap water, 'cause that would explain it, if you were.

We have tap water? That thing we use for model rocket fuel is water? Sheesh. I think the time warp is just cause by breathing too much dust from the implosions, and I live two miles from the Strip . . . first we got to glow in the dark from the atmospheric nukes (used to watch them from the church roof) and then we had to drink industrially processed water, and then came the implosions. I don't drink water. I drin Bishop's finger ale and Aguardiente.

I did too much LDS in the 60's . . . since I live basically down the street from the Sands I should have really remembered it couldn't have been last year, but I still live in the 90's anyway.[/quote]Wow, far out man! You did LDS while me and my group was doing LSD!

Dude! I just couldn't get off on those Mormons (Latter Day Saints). They kept getting stuck up my nose.

I did too much LDS in the 60's . . . since I live basically down the street from the Sands I should have really remembered it couldn't have been last year, but I still live in the 90's anyway.

Wow, far out man! You did LDS while me and my group was doing LSD!

Dude! I just couldn't get off on those Mormons (Latter Day Saints). They kept getting stuck up my nose.[/quote]Hey, it's a Star Trek quote . . . the movie with the whales and transparent aluminium . . .

Ra-Úl

Dude, I know! Carlsonjok clued me in. I guess I really diddo too much LSD in the 6o's! (Although trying to stick LDS Marie Osmond up my nose wouldn't have been that bad an idea, back in the day!)

--------------Come on Tough Guy, do the little dance of ID impotence you do so well. - Louis to Joe G 2/10

Gullibility is not a virtue - Quidam on Dembski's belief in the Bible Code Faith Healers & ID 7/08

I did too much LDS in the 60's . . . since I live basically down the street from the Sands I should have really remembered it couldn't have been last year, but I still live in the 90's anyway.

Ra-Úl

You live in Vegas?

I hope you aren't drinking the tap water, 'cause that would explain it, if you were.

We have tap water? That thing we use for model rocket fuel is water? Sheesh. I think the time warp is just cause by breathing too much dust from the implosions, and I live two miles from the Strip . . . first we got to glow in the dark from the atmospheric nukes (used to watch them from the church roof) and then we had to drink industrially processed water, and then came the implosions. I don't drink water. I drin Bishop's finger ale and Aguardiente.

Ra-Úl:

Everyone I've ever met who actually came from Las Vegas has been a complete loon. Is this accurate, or just a horribly unfair sweeping generalization based on far too small a sampling?

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

I did too much LDS in the 60's . . . since I live basically down the street from the Sands I should have really remembered it couldn't have been last year, but I still live in the 90's anyway.

Ra-Úl

You live in Vegas?

I hope you aren't drinking the tap water, 'cause that would explain it, if you were.

We have tap water? That thing we use for model rocket fuel is water? Sheesh. I think the time warp is just cause by breathing too much dust from the implosions, and I live two miles from the Strip . . . first we got to glow in the dark from the atmospheric nukes (used to watch them from the church roof) and then we had to drink industrially processed water, and then came the implosions. I don't drink water. I drin Bishop's finger ale and Aguardiente.

Ra-Úl:

Everyone I've ever met who actually came from Las Vegas has been a complete loon. Is this accurate, or just a horribly unfair sweeping generalization based on far too small a sampling?

Yes, this place is full of loonies. As the old ad for a stand-up comedy lounge used to say : 'cause in a town full of nude ice skaters needs a few laughs.' Aside from the tourist aspect we are in a way a part of the social sewer system of the republic, where every one used to come to hide out, change identity, disappear from the charted part of civilizatio, a distan serai in the desert. We have, sadly, lost part of that aspect, but kept the nude ice skaters. In exchange we get good cheap liquor store open 24/7. And nude ice skaters have their own allure.